Wednesday, July 20, 2016

The Republic of Turkey Wants the State of Texas to Investigate Gulen Charter Schools. | deutsch29

The Republic of Turkey Wants the State of Texas to Investigate Gulen Charter Schools.

In October 2015, the Republic of Turkey retained the international law firm, Amsterdam and Partners, to investigate the global activities of Pennsylvania resident, the mysterious Turkish cleric, Fethullah Gulen, whose network of followers happen to operate over 100 US charter schools.

Fethullah Gulen

On May 19, 2016, the Texas Tribune reported that Amsterdam and Partners planned to file a complaint with the Texas Education Agency (TEA) regarding alleged illegal operation of one specific Gulen-run charter school network, Harmony Schools.

And here are some powerful excerpts supporting the need for TEA intervention (citations removed for ease of reading):

This brief in support of the complaint against Cosmos Foundation, Inc., d/b/a Harmony Public Schools, (collectively “Harmony”) is submitted to the Texas Education Agency (“TEA”) with a request for a comprehensive investigation and sanctions as appropriate. … Though Harmony has been the subject of federal and state investigations in the last five years, each has been limited in scope and none has focused on Harmony’s employment, procurement, or operational practices. Though Harmony has been the subject of federal and state investigations in the last five years, each has been limited in scope and none has focused on Harmony’s employment, procurement, or operational practices. …

The need for a thorough TEA investigation of Harmony is even more pressing given Harmony’s aggressive growth plans. Taking advantage of Texas’ permissive replication rules, Harmony is rapidly expanding throughout the State by opening new campuses with limited state involvement or oversight. With forty-six campuses already, Harmony is poised to open up to fifteen new campuses over the next two school years serving an estimated additional 10,000 students. These expansions, if allowed to proceed, will cost Texas millions of taxpayer dollars per campus. With documented evidence of employment discrimination, self-dealing, violation of procurement laws, and concerning connections to a confederation of charter schools and charter school networks across the United States and world, Harmony’s operations in the state call for a comprehensive investigation immediately. …

Federal law prohibits employment discrimination based on national origin and gender, yet Harmony systematically favors individuals of Turkish nationality in hiring and job assignment. and men 12 A plain review of Harmony’s employment data submitted to the TEA shows that Harmony discriminates 1) in the recruiting and hiring of Turkish teachers with no American teaching experience or credentialing at the expense of qualified American teachers; and 2) in the hiring and promotion of almost exclusively Turkish men to leadership positions throughout the Harmony network. This is particularly egregious behavior since Harmony has already been successfully sued by former employees for employment discrimination on the basis of gender and national origin. …